Movember

By encouraging men (whom the charity refers to as "Mo Bros") to get involved, Movember aims to increase early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments, and ultimately reduce the number of preventable deaths. Besides annual check-ups, the Movember Foundation encourages men to be aware of family history of cancer and to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Using the moustache as the driving symbol of the movement, Movember focuses on the three key areas of prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health and suicide prevention. Since inception, the Movember Foundation has raised more than $1.8 billion AUD and funded over 1,600 projects in more than 20 countries.

Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has run Movember events to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues, such as prostate cancer and depression, in Australia and New Zealand. In 2007, events were launched in Ireland, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa, Taiwan and the United States. As of 2011, Canadians were the largest contributors to the Movember charities of any nation. In 2010, Movember merged with the testicular cancer event Tacheback.

In 2012, the Global Journal listed Movember as one of the world's top 100 NGOs (non-government organizations).

History

Origins

Seven Nightly News aired a story in 1999 including a group of young men in Adelaide, South Australia who coined the term "Movember" and the idea of growing moustaches for charity throughout the month of November. In the news report, members of the Adelaide-based "Movember Committee" explained how they came up with the idea for Movember one night in the pub. The group started with 80 men from Adelaide and soon became a nationwide phenomenon. They also aimed to raise money for the RSPCA through selling T-shirts in what they termed "Growing whiskers for whiskers".

In 2004, an unrelated group in Melbourne organised an event where 30 men would grow a moustache for 30 days in order to raise awareness for prostate cancer and depression in men. The movement was born when Adam Garone, Travis Garone, Luke Slattery, and Justin (JC) Coughlin inspired 26 other friends with a desire to "bring back" the trend of growing moustaches. The next year, nearly 500 people raised over $40,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. At the time, it was the largest donation the PCFA had ever received. This group would later become the Movember Foundation charity. Three years after starting the Movember movement, the organization was granted official charity status in Australia.

The Movember Foundation has since raised $174-million worldwide, after spreading to South Africa and Europe, reaching North America in 2006. In 2009, Movember obtained official charity status in the United States. In 2010, participants in the United States alone raised over $7.5 million. In 2012, 1.1 million people signed up to participate, raising upwards of $95 million.

The Moscars

The charity launched The Moscars in 2010, an online global user-submitted video contest that helps Movember participants showcase their involvement in the movement. Submissions cannot be longer than 4 minutes each, and prizes can be won in several categories.

In 2012, head judge Stan Lee awarded the Moscar to South Africa's comedy duo Derick Watts & The Sunday Blues for their video, "The Movember Song", a parody of Carly Rae Jepsen's hit "Call Me Maybe".

International Man of Movember

The International Man of Movember is chosen from 21 national winners all over the world to wear the crown and be the face of Movember for a whole year. Each national Man of Movember winner is voted in at that particular country's main Gala Parté, held at the end of November, by both judges and fans.

The first champion was Mark Knight from London in 2010. South Africa's Anton Taylor won the title in 2011, and in 2012 it was Chris Thwaites from New Zealand who won the coveted sash. 2013 saw Sweden's Tom Rickard crowned.

Criticism

A 2012 study published in The BMJ titled "Is Movember misleading men?" stated:

"Movember's emphasis on screening tests, its recommendation of a frequency of screening that is not based on evidence, and its failure to provide good supporting information place well intentioned men in unhelpful conflict with their doctors. Meanwhile, the far more pressing concerns of mental illness, alcohol and substance misuse, smoking, and obesity are pressed into near silence. Is this the best we can do for men's health?"

A 2015 study published in the Journal of Cancer Education stated:

"Findings from Twitter suggest that the Movember Canada 2013 did not meet the stated campaign objective of creating conversations about men's health and, specifically, about prostate and testicular cancers."

Another 2015 study published by Delft University of Technology stated:

"We find that across countries Twitter users mostly focus on the social aspect of the Movember campaign, with relatively few tweets focusing on the health aspect of Movember. Additionally, those users that do mention health related issues often use generic statements, instead of focusing on the two specific health issues that Movember aims to address (cancer and mental health). Surprisingly, the mental health aspect of Movember is virtually not discussed at all."